Well, first things first. Eric Ray Meyer (my middle name) arrived on Sunday, July 8th in Colorado. He weighed 7 lbs., 12 oz. He was a whopping 21 1/2 inches long. Our son, Mark, his wife, Beth, and older sister, Milena (born on my birthday a little over two years ago), all welcome Eric into their home and lives.

Now, to this week’s exciting story. Our daughter, Kathleen, her husband, William, and two sons, Daniel (11) and Wesley (13), came down from north-central Georgia for a week over the 4th of July.

What a lovely experience this was. The boys were a delight to have around (the parent protoplasms were, too!). Well-behaved, helpful, and blessed with a great sense of humor. We went to parks, the beach, malls, shopping circles, etc. Of course, they thoroughly enjoyed swimming in the pool.

Perhaps the high point of the week was our visit to Sea World. I personally love Sea World, probably because it’s one of the few places that has creatures larger than I! (g) It was an incredibly long day. We left our home at 7:00 am and got back about midnight. Didn’t know I still had it in me!

Our plan was to see every single thing there was to see. Well, we nearly made it. There was some rain off and on that helped cool the temperatures. None of us melted! (g) We saw dolphins to pet, sting rays to rub, sea lions and otters, manatees to appreciate and inspect, sharks to walk through, funny water skiers, polar bears, a water ride, a sky-high donut (no police), a huge roller coaster (which, wisely, no one rode), and, of course, Shamu.

There are several theaters with great shows. One focused on some most excellent acrobatics and a rather silly man who ran around driving us nuts blowing a whistle.

However, the theater that really got my attention involved trained animals. It was neat to note that the show didn’t proceed perfectly. Because their training methods at Sea World are centered on positive reinforcement, when the dog, cat, skunk, pig, etc., didn’t do exactly what they were supposed to do, the trainer, right in the middle of the show, stopped and led them through the routine again. The honesty was refreshing.

I was seated in Sparky on the front row about six feet from the leading edge of the stage. What a good place to see and enjoy all the animal antics. At one point, a 2,000 pound donkey came out of the wings. His shtick was to take his rear legs and kick the bejeebers out of enormous beach balls (about eight feet in diameter) (g). One of the trainers jumped from the stage, in front of me and the audience and began catching and deflecting these huge balls.

I was really enjoying this game until, suddenly, the 2,000 pound donkey solidly connected with a monster beach ball and hit me square in the face! My head jerked back, my neck snapped a little, and I experienced an instant headache. The audience laughed uproariously, thinking, perhaps, that this was part of the show. Well, it wasn’t, I assure you.

Now, maybe looking for a little sympathy, I began asking my family if they’d seen what happened…how the 2,000 pound donkey had kicked the stuffings out of me. Their replies were swift and precise. Went something like, “Oh, Papa, it was a miniature pony and probably didn’t weigh more than 150 pounds soaking wet!” Well, all I know is that I felt like I’d been run over by a HUGE Mac truck. AND, I wanted lots of empathy, sympathy, and care! (g)

I’ve been in two very serious motorcycles accidents. Both times, people ran stop signs and violated my right of way. The most important factor is that they both happened so fast…kinda like the beach ball in the face. We often think that if it looked like we were about to be in an accident, we’d do this or that, and come out unscathed. Wrong, Little Pilgrim. Most accidents happen so quickly that we have little or no time to react or avert the problem.

Isn’t life like that very often? We’re going to get right with God…some day. We’re going to straighten out that problem between ourselves and someone else. We’re going to start giving back to God from our resources (time, money, gifts, etc.) Yep, we’ve got it all figured out when WHAP, ZAP, WHIZ BANG ZOOM, out of nowhere comes the 2,000 pound donkey and the huge beach ball!

Please let me know about your experiences and how this piece speaks to you. I really enjoy hearing from my readers! Just use the “Leave a Reply” box below!

– Good piece! We simply cannot take families for granted as we have been doing in the Church. It’s such a shame to see families split up as soon as they hit the front door of their church. That’s my perspective, anyway. Your perspective on the various ways God builds them is really good, especially in these days.

– Interesting reading of your blended family, as I have one too. I don’t have children but married an older man and he as grown children, then grandkids, and grandkids that came due to marriage of a gal with children…….uh, hard to explain!

– This was a good one Jerry. Don’t ask me why, but the “Purple Phone” story reminded me of the most important “phone call” of my life. As you know, I was with the US Navy Seabees in Somalia back in the early 90’s. I had been there for several months with no family contact whatsoever. Fina lly, we had a MARS (military amateur radio station) team visit our basecamp. Each person was to have two minutes of radio/phone time with his family. We had several days notice that the MARS team was coming.

     I carefully planned my words so I would be able to quickly give my wife instructions on how the communication was to work, tell her I was “okay” and what was happening with me, ask her several questions about issues back home, and finally let her have about 30 seconds to answer any questions or hear any news she might have. During that two minutes, my family learned that I was safe and out of harm’s way; I learned that our newborn son was growing fast and that our daughter was saying her first words, my parents were okay, my uncle had passed away and that one of his last statements was to ask if I was okay.

     Most of all, I felt really loved for the first time in months. Needless to say, the emotional high was unbelievable and the letdown just as dramatic. I suppose that only those who have been to war or conflict can truly understand what I am saying. Take it from a military man who has been deployed a total of 49 months during his career. The times away from your family are lost and you cannot get them back! Family truly is a blessing and we should cherish and guard every moment we can with our loved ones.

– I can’t believe you have a purple phone!! My goodness, your favorite color must be PURPLE, right???? Loved your story. Of course, I love all of them. Your mind must be so full of great ideas, and stories just like this one. You are so eloquent with words, straight from the heart! I’m jealous! (PapaJ is blushing!)

– Gee, the more I read the wonderful stories you so graciously share, the more I find similarities between us. I, never having had a child, married a wonderful man (my personal gift from God) and found myself step-mother to 3 (at that time ages 18, 14, and 13). Since their mother passed away from cancer a few years earlier, I became the closest thing to a mother for these 3. When my husband and I first started dating, I had a long chat with the kids and told them that, no, I did not expect to be called “Mom” because it was NEVER my intention to take her place, a revelation that seemed to bring sighs of relief. I have survived to date: 1 cat, 2 driving tests, 2 weddings, and 3 births (the most recent birth was our grandson on Jan 25th of this year). Just this past weekend “Poppy” and “Gram” braved a romp to a petting zoo with our grandson, ______ (6 going on 26) and our granddaughter, _____ _____ (5 going on 15).

     A short 5 hours later we returned home exhausted (us, NOT the kids!) and stretched out in the recliners with kids in our laps watching Rug Rats cartoons. Over the years these have become OUR kids and OUR grandkids and when people tell me “I didn’t know you had grand kids!” I just smile and say “yeah”. No explanations are necessary.

     Although the word “step” is attached to my title, it’s becoming less and less prominent with each passing year. Although I wasn’t there for their birth, the “terrible twos”, or potty training, I consider myself to be blessed, indeed, to be there for the remaining part of their lives and, yes, the best is yet to come!

– I love your “Inside Out” as usual. My brother has two adopted children and I just LOVE the way you put “adopted not being loved less, but specially chosen.” That is a fantastic way to look at it, because like you said, “ONE GOD” brought us together anyhow!!!! Thanks for a lovely sentiment.

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